You never go hungry or thirsty at Madrid Fusion, three days of incredible cooking and conversations. We went along with open mind and emerged open mouthed.
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For three days chefs from all over the world, but mostly from Spain, come to demonstrate what they are up to creatively. There’s a giant auditorium, with slightly ineffectual translations to English, and off to the side and on the’roof’ massive displays from food and drink producers gathered from all over Spain and the world. Anyone can come in and browse the over 150 displays who buys a ticket.
An old ham
By eleven on the first day I’m usually shining with massive consumption of jamon, you’ll rarely see so many top class producers gathered in one place and so you have to make jamon while the sun shines.
The Russians are here in Madrid, I think for the first time, showing amongst other things produce from Siberia. Yes, Siberia.
The wines from Russia are interesting too, rich Cabernets and sparklers that have adopted olde worlde wine labels but are all in Cyrillic script. How long before they become a feature on UK supermarket shelves?
Salad days
The flavours are remarkable – a cress that tastes of honey, another that’s pure unami, a purple one that tastes of cumin. If you’re a chef who likes to create dishes with tweezers, these are fascinating and inspiring products.
The big stars come out
Inspiration also comes from the main stage. So many chefs but I pick the ones I am keen to see, one group being Joâo Rodrigues (Feitoria, Portugal), Alexandre Silva (Loco, Portugal), Henrique Sá Pessoa (Alma, Portugal) who do some remarkable things with fish and Mario Sandoval (Coque, Spain).
I do go to his restaurant, at his invitation, later that week where I get to eat a multi-course meal experience that moves from bar, to kitchen, to wine cellar, with a drink and a tapas dish in each, before finally sitting at table to eat 12 courses with matched wines.
The price for those who do pay is as mind blowing as the food experience, but worth every penny, A glorious restaurant in every way and no wonder it has two Michelin stars.
Stars on the stairs
I wander out of the main hall after watching’The Evolving Tokyo-Japanese Cuisine’ talk by chef
His food is, he explains, modern kaiseki, a type of Japanese cuisine involving a series of small, finely wrought dishes. His chicken wings served up in a fast-food takeaway box get a big round of applause and those lucky people who get to try them say they are fantastic.
That’s because leader of the gang is chef owner of DSTAgE (Days to Smell Taste Amaze Grow & Enjoy) Diego Guerrero. His T-Shirt on stage for his demonstration the next day says’What the fuck is DStage?’. He’s a bit of lad is our Diego.
In his restaurant, over two floors, you apparently go on a journey eating in all parts of the building, so it’s not for those who prefer to sit down. The kitchen is part of the dining room, not seperate, and the chefs come out and mingle and serve guests in a way that breaks down the usual borders
His demo is brilliant, a study in iconoclasm and of not giving much of a F about anything but the food. It works too, his restaurant has two tasting menus: DTASTE, – 10 dishes at 88 euros; and DSTAgE, 13 dishes at 118 euros and he has two Michelin stars. I want to go. Now.
Food and drink forever
It helps that there are so many wine tastings, and this year saki tastings too, to keep me going. And then there’s beer, the Mahon stand is perpetually rammed with thirsty punters.
Showtime dinner
That evening I try a place I’ve heard a lot about, Platea Madrid. It’s an old cinema theatre now turned into a rather remarkable dining space, a multi level food court. Each of the balconies is now a restaurant. The stalls are a restaurant but the stage is still working with performers and aerial acrobats perform off the galleries. You can watch the show as you eat
Turning the turntables
She then proceeded to use an old LP turntable to spin a plate while it was dressed. You can read my interview with Elena Arzak here, albeit on another website.
And so gradually the whole wonderful caravan of chefs, suppliers and industry experts comes to a stop. Three days of remarkable demonstrations, exciting chefs, exploration of wonderful food (and wine with Enofusión, the 8th edition of the International Wine Congress) and catching up with friends old and new. Meet up in Madrid next year? Yes, please